The Coldest Girl In Coldtown

Review:

Title:  The Coldest Girl In Coldtown

Author: Holly Black

Publisher: Little Brown

Release Date:  September 3rd, 2013

Format: ARC

Genre:  YA, Paranormal 

Blurb:

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

Writing:

Black's writing was truly enticing.  She came up with a premise, drew you in, and then trapped you among the gorgeous detailing and well paced plot.  The idea is completely original, and takes away all the typical glamour of vampires, leaving it raw and surprisingly desirable.  The book leads you on an adventure, not a romance.  It is a girl dealing with the cards been dealt, not pining over a sparkling old man.  (Maybe there is a specific book that I'm comparing this to in my mind)... Regardless, this book is full of originality, and is shocking and incredible.

Characters:

Tana:

Tana gets thrown into a situation she never asked for, already scarred by a similar event.  Yet she doesn't even question anything, and just becomes full of determination in all of the crazy situations she is thrown into.  She is clever, ruthless, and yet kind.  She shows her vulnerability when it comes to her sister Pearl, and that really deepens her character.

Gavriel:

Gavriel may have ulterior motives, but he manages to open up his frozen heart.  While he tries over and over again to show Tana the brutality of vampires, he never shies her away from it.  Gavriel really respects Tana in a way not all of the characters do. He may have underestimated her, yet he he is not surprised by the way that she bounces back.  This book is not about how delicious Gavriel is, (although that is a true statement... MINE!) yet how he can still surprise her when she thought she's figured everything out.

Final Findings:

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown surprised me.  I didn't expect to find such an amazing book about vampires, that was adventurous, thrillingly creepy, well paced, and had the tiniest bit of romance that you were craving for more.  And yet, that is what I found!  The ending of The Coldest Girl In Coldtown certainly is open ended, and I wouldn't be surprised of a sequel, which I eagerly hope for and expect! 

✎✎✎✎✎

~Remy

An Abundance of Katherines

Review:

Title:  An Abundance of Katherines

Author:  John Green

Publisher: Speak (An Imprint of Penguin Group USA)

Publication Date: 2006

Format: Library Copy

Genre:  YA, Contemporary, Romance

Blurb: 

Katherine V thought boys were gross

Katherine X just wanted to be friends

Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail

K-19 broke his heart 

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.

Writing:

John Green quickly pulls you into the story of Colin, who ends up in Tennessee after a road trip with his best buddy Hassan. Collin spends the entire book producing this theorem to predict a relationship, specifically, his relationship with any girl named Katherine.  Green makes the characters very real and honest human beings, bringing in aspects of heart break, new beginnings, and disappointment.  I found myself completely engrossed in the story, and I was sad, although pleased, with the ending. 

In this book, Green uses a lot of footnotes, which I found fun at first, and for the most part continually fun.  I thought that at points they broke up the flow of the book, but after a while I barely noticed the transitions back and fourth.  

Characters:

Colin:

Colin is a somewhat self absorbed prodigy who continues to get dumped by Katherine's.  Convinced that creating a theorem will answer his questions and predict future relationships, Colin embarks on an emotional journey and discovers flaws within himself, as well as an enormous amount of closure.  Colin unusual, but completely interesting, and he had such wonderful character growth!

Hassan:

Hassan is the perfect friend.  He is the opposite of Colin in many ways, but they know each other so well.  Hassan is that friend that will just tell you the truth, even when you don't want to hear it, and Colin often needs that.  Hassan is also goodnatured and funny; spicing up the story and keeping the pace.

Lindsay:

Lindsay is imperfect and never herself.  She represents this new friend, something that Colin doesn't have a lot of, as well as a new beginning.  She admits to a lot and shares sides of herself with Colin that she doesn't show others.  She is guarded, confident, and still vulnerable in her weakest moments.  I found Lindsay to be perfectly honest, but to have a good heart.

*Bonus Character: Spoiler*

Katherine 1/19:

When I write 1/19 I do not mean 1 through 19, because as it is revealed that all the stories about Katherine 1 and 19 are actually the same person, explaining is infatuation with them both.  (K-19 was the most recent break up). 

Final Findings:

An Abundance of Katherines embody's all of teenage heartbreak, friend drama, and unexpected discovery that makes it a perfect YA novel that has stolen it's spot on my favorites shelf with all of it's quirkiness.  

✎✎✎✎✎

~Remy

Beat the Heat Readathon Conclusion

Auntie Spinelli Reads

I am sad to announce that the Beat The Heat Readathon is now over! :(  I think that I completed a lot of my goals, but instead of counting up pages and number of hours, I think that I'll just share the books that I read! :D

Review

Review

Review

Review

Jaws

I think that eight books is something to be proud of, don't you?  Anyway, I though that this was a fun Readathon and I'm glad that I participated! :D

~Remy

Weekly Wrap Up

Books Read:

Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown

Books Received:

Library:

 (Old) ARC's:

Won:

Reviews:  

Trash Can Days

Jaws

Meme's:

Top Ten Tuesday

Waiting On Wednesday

Writing:

I signed up for 

On Friday August 23rd I'll start writing 100 for 100 of my WIP!  (Work In Progress).

I also signed up for

which starts November first, and hopefully I'll write a novel in a month!

~Remy

Jaws and 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge Part 12

How do I fight blogger fatigue?

I fight blogger fatigue by either taking a day or two off, or posting about something totally off topic.  I usually can get back into a groove pretty quickly! :D

Review:

Title: Jaws

Author: Peter Benchley

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: 1974

Format: Library Copy

Genre: Horror, Classic

Blurb:

The classic, blockbuster thriller of man-eating terror that inspired the Steven Spielberg movie and made millions of beachgoers afraid to go into the water. Experience the thrill of helpless horror again -- or for the first time!

Writing:

Benchly wrote a very real depiction of a small beach town, with believable, although boring characters.  The plot was not exactly exciting, although the moments of attack certainly stirred up trouble. 

Characters:

Brody:

Brody is a classic small town policeman who's interest in the general public's safety is genuine.  With that given, however, he wasn't all that interesting or gripping.  He was a good guy in all, but his obliviousness to his wife and her, erm, (SPOILER) affair is slightly unbelievable. 

Ellen:

Ellen just got on my nerves.  She was a rich girl who married down because she was in "love", and yet with her life that is good; a husband in work, beautiful children, ect.  Her mid life crisis was hard to connect with, especially because it was described that this was not the first one.  

Hooper:

Hooper was egotistical and manipulative.  While is fascination with sharks may have been legitimate, he was overconfident in his knowledge and abilities, that lead him to, um, (SPOILER) be eaten.  

Final Findings:

Although I am glad that I read it, I was not exactly pleased with my experience in Jaws.  The shark is actually not that big of a part of the book, and I wish that it had been more prominent.  All in all, I recommend that you read it for the purpose of reading a classic, but I don't know if you'll like it all that much.  

✎✎✎

~Remy

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine where bloggers cane showcase books that we eager for!

This week I'm dying for Tiger's Dream by Collen Houck!

The cover and blurb have yet to be released!  Expected publication: 2014

You all know how much I love the first one!

Tiger's Curse

~Remy

Beat the Heat Readathon Update #15

Auntie Spinelli Reads

Tuesday 8/13

Currently Reading: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Pages Read Today: 141

Time Spent Reading Today: 2 & 1/2 hrs

Books Completed Today:  The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

 

~Remy

Top Ten Tuesday (2)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

This week's Top Ten is "Top Ten Books Set in X Setting" 

The setting that I chose was futuristic!  With no further ado, (and in no specific order...)

1.  The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Review

2.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

3. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Review

4.  Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

5.  Delerium by Lauren Oliver

Review

6.  Divergent by Veronica Roth

7. The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

8.  The Giver by Lois Lowry

9.  Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

(Old) Review

10.  The Selection by Kiera Cass

~Remy

Beat the Heat Readathon Week Three Kick Off

Auntie Spinelli Reads

Monday 8/12

Currently Reading: The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

Pages Read Today: 278

Time Spent Reading Today: 2 & 1/2 hrs.

Books Completed Today:  Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

 

Goals: 

(Highlighted)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Camp by Elaine Wolf

Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga by Teddy Steinkellner

Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd (Edited) by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci

Through the Skylight by Ian Baucom

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

Divergent by Veronica Roth (Re-Read)

Jaws by Peter Benchley

Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

~Remy

Beat the Heat Readathon Week Two Update

Auntie Spinelli Reads

Friday 8/9

Currently Reading:  Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

Pages Read today:  412

Time Spent Reading Today: 4 hrs and 45 min.

Books Completed Today: n/a

Saturday 8/10 and Sunday 8/11:

I couldn't read this weekend!  Super busy! :(

WEEK 2 SUMMARY
Total # pages read this week: 1,178 pages
Total time spent reading this week: Roughly 13 hours
Books I completed this week:

 

 

Reviews:

Camp Review

Trash Can Days Review

~Remy

Trash Can Days and Book Blogger Challenge Part 11

My Top 5 Best Blog Posts! 

Tiger's Curse

The 5th Wave

Reason To Breathe

The Maze Runner

Scarlet

Review: 

Title: Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga 

Author: Teddy Steinkellner

Publisher:  Disney Hyperion Books

Publication Date: August 20th, 2013

Format: ARC

Genre: Middle Grade; Realistic Fiction

Blurb:

Jake Schwartz is not looking forward to middle school. Puberty feels light-years away; he’s not keen on the cool clothes or lingo; and he has the added pressure of preparing for his bar mitzvah. The only saving grace is that Danny Uribe, his lifelong best friend, will be by his side…

Or will he? Since Danny’s summer growth spurt, there’s been a growing distance between him and Jake. Danny is excited to explore all that junior high has to offer…especially the girls (and most notably Hannah, Jake’s older sister). But gang life has its allure, too, and he soon finds himself in over his head.

Meanwhile, Hannah is dealing with her own problems–being queen bee is not easy. The other girls are out for blood, and boys are so…exhausting. Danny surprises her with his maturity, but can Hannah’s reputation survive if she’s linked to a sevvy? And what would Jake think about her hooking up with his best friend?

Dorothy Wu could not care less about junior-high drama. She is content to stay in her bedroom and write epic stories of her adventures as a warrior mermaid maiden. But that changes when she discovers the school’s writing club. There, she meets a young lad with heroic potential and decides that life outside her fantasy world just might have some appeal.

In the course of one year at San Paulo Junior High, these four lives will intersect in unique and hilarious ways. Friendships will grow and change. Reputations will be transformed. And maybe someone will become a man.

Writing:  

The writing in this book was nothing special, although it definitely grasped a middle schoolers mind very well.  The transition between characters POV's was very smooth, and all the characters stories intertwined except for Dorothy's.  It bothered me how much Danny, Hannah, and Jake were involved with each other, while Dorothy was only connected to the trio via her friendship with Jake.  I think that there could have been a little bit more manipulation to the story to allow Dorothy to be more involved.  The climax of the book was not just intense, but also surprising.  The end of the book sort of made up for the adequate bulk of the story. 

Characters:

Danny:

Danny is exactly what you expect every Middle School boy to be like, and that led him to be extremely annoying.  His involvement with the gang and his secret relationship kept him interesting, and at least in the end we know that he's not entirely bad.

Jake:

Jake was my favorite character.  He is the poster boy for that kid who is suddenly in middle school and has no clue what has happened, yet instead of trying to be something that he was not, Jake stayed true to himself.  It was sad how lonely Jake was throughout the book, but in the end his friends and sister came through for him, even though it was kind of, no it was really, too late.

Hannah:

Hannah's ideas and thoughts flopped around like a fish;  who she liked, who her friends were, and whether she was nice or not.  At first she was extremely superficial, and then her big change came across as fake too.  In the end, Hannah remained sort of a mystery to me, she was harder to figure out than I expected.

Dorothy:

Dorothy kind of bothered me throughout the book.  Her lack of interest in school, and her addiction to things like video games kind of made her not appealing.  While it was cool that she was a writer. like myself, her stories for sort of sprinkled awkwardly through out the book, and felt like fantasy romance novels that she had found under her mother's bed.  Dorothy's one redeaming quality was her determination to be a good friend to Jake.

Final Findings:

This book ended up beings so dramatic and full of things that just don't happen in regular middle schools that I was disappointed, and yet the ending was surprising and unexpected.  I enjoyed the characters most of the time, and was usually able to look the other way when something happened that just usually wouldn't.

✎✎✎✎

~Remy

Stacking the Shelves

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly Saturday meme hosted by Tyngas Reviews where you can share the books that you received this week! 

Recived for Blog Tour:

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black 

Library:

Ultraviolet and Quicksilver by R. J. Anderson

 

Things I Know About Love by Kate le Vann